Although providing alcohol to minors and intoxicated individuals is illegal, the rate of successful purchases among these groups remains high.

In a study in a northern California city, researchers from the Prevention Research Center scouted establishments to obtain information on neighborhood and premise characteristics. They then sent pseudo-intoxicated male customers to on-premise establishments, such as bars and restaurants, to determine rates of alcohol service. Finally, they sent female customers who appeared to be minors to off-premise establishments, such as liquor stores, to determine rates of alcohol sales.

The study found that apparent minors were successful in purchasing alcohol 39 percent of the time, while pseudo-intoxicated customers were served alcohol 58 percent of the time.

The research further found that apparent minors were more likely to purchase alcohol in neighborhoods with higher percentages of Hispanic residents. Pseudo-intoxicated customers were more likely to purchase alcohol in Hispanic neighborhoods when the server was male and appeared to be younger than 30 years of age.

"Our findings suggest that dense Hispanic neighborhoods have higher rates of sales," said Bridget Freisthler, associate research scientist at the Prevention Research Center. "Because of this, they may also have higher rates of alcohol-related problems, such as traffic crashes, pedestrian injuries, and assaults."

Freisthler said the study should help in directing community-based alcohol prevention efforts. "At the very least, these results should help focus attention on sales to underage youth and intoxicated patrons because they are illegal," said Freisthler. "More importantly, these types of alcohol sales may be related to what is called 'early onset' of alcohol use among underage youth, injury, and violent incidents."

She added, "Communities can act to reduce neighborhood access to alcohol among young people and intoxicated patrons by working with local law-enforcement officials. In addition, residents can work to change existing planning and zoning laws in order to limit the number of alcohol outlets in neighborhood areas and/or increase the distance between outlets."

The study's findings are published in the March 2003 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

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